


this is not a love story

by virdant



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Experimental Style, M/M, Romance, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-19
Updated: 2011-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-08 14:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15245484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virdant/pseuds/virdant
Summary: Sherlock, Moriarty, and the empty space between them. This is the closest they get to love.Originally written and posted in 2011, after the airing of Season 1. Please note the date attached to this work, which is backdated to match the original posting date on livejournal.





	this is not a love story

**Author's Note:**

> About seven years ago, I wrote this piece and couldn't figure out how to post it to AO3. Seven years later, and some more willingness to spend hours fighting css skins, I am content with how this story appears on AO3. 
> 
> Please read with creator skins on.
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you so much to Pann for their assistance in the initial formatting of this fanfiction. They spent over 2 hours with me teaching me enough html and offering suggestions on padding and margin size so I could format it as I wanted. You can read it with specifically set widths on livejournal [[ here ]](https://virdant.livejournal.com/56268.html).

this is not a love story   
  
---  
  
What do you want? Sherlock asked.   
  
You, Moriarty replied.   
  
That’s boring, Sherlock said. You’d much rather have me always outside your grasp.   
  
Yes, Moriarty agreed, but the chase is no fun if it doesn't end... and _this_ chase will end with me having you.   
  
Liar, Sherlock whispers now, letting Moriarty fall down, down, down—onto rocks and into death.   
  
But he wonders.   
  
*   
  
Your sponsor, who was it? I want a name! He pushes down on the wound, making it hurt. He wants it to hurt.   
  
Moriarty, the cabbie shouts.   
  
And Sherlock lets go, wondering: 

| 

_Moriarty._  
  
He wonders why it sounds like the sunlight on grass.   
  
*   
  
John is polite, annoyed at the mess in the kitchen, and calm. Very calm.   
  
Military doctor. Afghanistan. It’s at odds with the way he tilts his head and frowns, quiet, mild, unassuming. And the way he laughs after he shoots the cabbie is at odds with the way he makes tea.   
  
John is like a puzzle in three dimensions. Sherlock wants to take him apart and put him back together again with all the pieces flipped, and draw the world on the back-sides.   
  
You can’t do that, Mycroft informs him. You can’t just take people apart and put them back together so they’re how you want them.   
  
Sherlock asks, Why not? You do it all the time.   
  
*   
  
Moriarty doesn't understand John Watson.   
  
That isn't quite true.   
  
Moriarty understands John Watson. He just doesn't understand Sherlock's obsession with such an ordinary man.   
  
Sherlock is like him. Extraordinary.   
  
*   
  
John doesn’t like Moriarty. According to John, Moriarty is a bad man.   
  
Sherlock agrees, but Moriarty is also a very _smart_ man.   
  
And the only thing that Sherlock loathes more than boredom is idiocy.   
  
*   
  
These are the questions that Sherlock would like to ask Moriarty.   
  
1\. Why Carl Powers?   
  
2\. Where do you think we’ll go?   
  
3\. How did I not meet you earlier?   
  
This is the question that Moriarty doesn’t need to ask, because he knows the answer.   
  
Are you also bored?   
  
*   
  
I’m sorry I can't be more.   
  
It’s ~~not~~ fine.   
  
*   
  
I will burn the heart out of you, Moriarty promised, months ago, standing on the edges of a pool at midnight, chlorine in every breath.   
  
You can try, Sherlock replies now. You can try, but I’ve cut it out a long time ago.   
  
Liar, Moriarty says.   
  
Truth, Sherlock wants to say. But he doesn't. Instead he pretends that he never felt that thrill in his throat when he first heard the words Moriarty. He pretends that Moriarty shouldn’t exist. He pretends that one genius is enough.   
  
One genius is never enough.   
  
*   
  
Moriarty is the only person that Sherlock has ever been interested in. Except John. But John and Sherlock don’t talk about that.   
  
So you’re going to kill him? John asks.   
  
He wants to kill me, Sherlock replies. He wants to kill _you_.   
  
*   
  
People get so defensive about their pets.   
  
John isn't a pet.   
  
He's just a pawn though.   
  
We're the ones playing the game—   
  
and Sherlock knows that he’ll win. 

| 

and Moriarty knows that he’ll win.   
  
*   
  
You’re the only person who’s ever challenged me.   
  
There should be other people. People who are also brilliant. People like Mycroft. But Mycroft was never a challenge. Mycroft is someone Sherlock can never hope to beat, and there’s no challenge in losing.  | 

Moriarty thinks that this is possibly a lie.  
  
  
_You’re the only person I’ve ever wanted to lose to._  
  
  
end  
  
  
**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos always appreciated
> 
> [reblog on tumblr](https://virdant.tumblr.com/post/175797645201/fic-bbcsherlock) | [retweet on twitter](https://twitter.com/virdant/status/1017214892938428417)  
> [follow me on tumblr](https://virdant.tumblr.com/) | [follow me on twitter](https://twitter.com/virdant)


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